


What happens after the war

by Vault_Emblem



Series: FE gen week [8]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
Genre: Character Study, During Canon, FE Gen Week, FE Gen Week 2020, Gen, Post-Canon, Vignette, War, minor appearance of Ephraim, minor appearance of Forde
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:34:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23770084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vault_Emblem/pseuds/Vault_Emblem
Summary: A few instances of Kyle pondering about his place after the war.
Relationships: minor Kyle & Ephraim, minor Kyle & Forde
Series: FE gen week [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/918036
Kudos: 6
Collections: Fire Emblem Gen Week 2020





	What happens after the war

**Author's Note:**

> This is something I wanted to explore for quite some time, Kyle and his feelings about war and fighting and, most importantly, what comes next. He feels like the kind of guy who's so focused on duty, so fighting since that's his duty as a soldier, that he wouldn't know what he's supposed to do when the war ends.  
> I saw the prompt "unfamiliar", and I thought this could be a nice fit.

It’s after they’ve set camp that the realization dawns on Kyle: tomorrow the war will end. They either triumph, or they die.

This doesn’t shake him as much as it should – he has faith in everyone, they have to win – but he still finds himself restless for some reason.

Forde, as helpful as ever, suggests that he may need a nap… but maybe he isn’t wrong. These are tense times, and maybe he can try and sleep away some nervousness.

Except sleeps doesn’t come.

He can’t stop thinking about the future. What will happen after the war ends?

Of course, there will be a time of reconstructions. It’ll take the greater part of their resources, but it is something that must be done.

After that, it will be time for diplomacy, and it’s then that Kyle wonders what will his place be.

He can help to rebuild, he can protect villagers from all the dangers that will surely be around but… what else?

All his training, all his purpose as a knight, was to make sure that nothing happened to Renais, to protect his country from invasion, something that he’s doing – they’re all doing – in this exact moment, by fighting.

Once all of this is over, what will be of him?

He has no special talent outside war like Forde, he has no special someone with whom beginning to build a family, he’s just himself, plain ol’ Kyle.

Where is he supposed to go after this?

He sighs, turning on his side.

He shouldn’t have these thoughts: his purpose is to serve Renais, both during war _and_ during peace. Whatever it is that he’ll have to do, he’ll do it, for the good of everybody else.

He’s not a kid anymore, he should know that there’s more to being a knight than shiny armours, tall steeds and the glory of the battlefield; that doesn’t cover even half of what a knight is actually supposed to do.

He’ll find his place, even in the new world.

As predicted, after the end of the war it’s time for reconstructions, and of course, Renais’ knights are deployed to help where there’s need.

It’s almost harder than fighting, but it’s a change of pace that nobody actually minds, or at least most of them. For Kyle, it still feels weird, but he supposes it’s just because he still has to get used to it.

Besides, some things haven’t changed: Forde still slacks off, prince Ephraim still insists on helping – leaving all the diplomatic work to princess Eirika – and so on and so on…

Forde, as always, jokes about the fact that he should really take a break, since he’s been one of the first to throw himself into the reconstruction efforts, and Kyle’s not going to lie, he does feel tired, but he’s also afraid that, if he stops even for a day, he won’t be able to get back into the rhythm of things anymore.

Still, there is a day in which he feels too tired to even get up, and he does spend the most of it there, sleeping. He only gets a visit for prince Ephraim, who was worried about his well-being, but beside that, nobody comes to bother him, nor to lecture him for having taken a day off.

In the end, life goes on. Having taken a day to rest manages not to cause any kind of apocalypse.

How long has it been since they finished reconstructing? A year already. It certainly doesn’t feel like it, but there’s no other way to interpret it, not when they’re preparing to celebrate the anniversary of the end of the war.

Renais’ castle hasn’t been this busy in a while, which only ends up making Kyle feel more restless, because as part of the knights, there really isn’t much he’s supposed to do, apart from patrolling the perimeters and be on the lookout for any suspicious activity.

On one hand, he almost wants to find something, but on the other he can’t help but to feels ashamed of this desire: does he really want to jeopardize the peace they’ve fought for just for his selfishness?

Besides, it isn’t like they don’t even spar anymore, which means that when he feels like he misses fighting too much, he has at least an outlet.

He often asks himself if it’s right that he feels like this, but he figures that it’s good that someone is still vigil: these may be peaceful times now, but one can never know. After all, it was the element of surprise what brought Renais to its almost complete downfall.

He’s distracted from his thoughts when another guard relieves him from his duty, taking his place.

Prince – king, now –Ephraim himself requested his presence – and the presence of all the knights who fought in the war – for this event, so he needs to get ready for court.

This is something he’s completely unfamiliar with, and with the social prowess of a dead fish, he doesn’t exactly know what he’ll do except probably being a wallflower hoping that nobody comes to bother him; if he could he’d refuse, but he doubts king Ephraim would accept that.

Thankfully Forde has helped him out with this, even though they’ve been lucky enough that, since they’re knights, they’re expected to wear their armor, so no fancy clothes for them.

At least Kyle hopes it won’t last too long.

If he could, he would’ve retired for the night a long time ago, but unfortunately he’s in no position to do so.

However, after eating something at the buffet and striking the occasional conversation with a few invited guests, people he knows from the war, he really doesn’t know what else to do.

Everything changes when Forde finds him.

Kyle has no idea how he manages to rope him into doing so, but he doesn’t argue as much as he would’ve otherwise as he drags him to the ballroom.

\- C’mon! I need something to do or else I’ll fall asleep, and you too look like you need a distraction -, is what the other says.

Well, he isn’t completely wrong, but to dance in front of so many people…

He can’t even finish that thought that they’re already in the middle of the ballroom, and Forde’s already put his hands on him.

At this point he might as well go with it.

It isn’t so bad.

Thankfully they’re not exactly at the center of attention, so nobody gives them any thought, which is good or else Kyle would’ve died of embarrassment.

He almost does die when king Ephraim finds them. He expects to be teased, but Ephraim actually demands a dance from both of them, since they were already there, and no matter how much Kyle tries to refuse – he’s a king and he’s a knight, it would be most improper! – he knows how stubborn his liege is.

After a first moment of awkwardness, things go pretty smoothly at least. They even manage to get a few laughs out of each other.

It’s been a long time since Kyle has been able to indulge in such levity, and even though there’s still the same old thought at the back of his head, the one that keeps whispering at him that he’s getting softer, that this isn’t the place for him and it will never be, that he truly lives only on the battlefield, Kyle manages to push those venomous snake back, enjoying this night of celebrations.

He understands, now: his place will always be with his friends and comrades, no matter what.


End file.
